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The Two Issues to Watch on Financial Reform

We need an independent consumer watchdog and strong derivatives regulation. Industry lobbyists are trying to water them down.

By

Alan S. Blinder

Updated April 22, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

We may now be approaching the final act of the lengthy legislative drama of financial regulatory reform. While reformers still have miles to go before they sleep, the prospects for getting a good bill through Congress have brightened considerably since health reform passed.

The two financial-reform bills now in Congress are lengthy, complicated and substantive. H.R. 4173, Rep. Barney Frank's bill, which passed the House in December, is 1,279 pages long; Sen. Chris Dodd's bill, which is about to be debated in the Senate, runs...